TEACHING BRITISH CULTURE AND ETHICS IN THE EFL CLASSROOM THROUGH HARRY POTTER

Transcription

1 UNIVERSIDAD DE CONCEPCIÓN FACULTAD DE EDUCACIÓN PEDAGOGÍA EN INGLÉS TEACHING BRITISH CULTURE AND ETHICS IN THE EFL CLASSROOM THROUGH HARRY POTTER TESIS PARA OPTAR AL GRADO DE LICENCIADO(A) EN EDUCACIÓN Prof. Guía: Susan Stringer O Keeffe Ph.D Seminarista: Norma Scarlette Matus Caro Concepción, Enero 2016

2 It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default. J.K. Rowling To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark. Victor Hugo 1

3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The dedication of this thesis is split into four parts. First of all, I would like to thank my parents, my brother and my aunt, who have stood by me since I first opened my eyes: my father for pushing me to reach my goals; my mother who has always supported me with her humour and wise words. She has always inspired me to become who I want to be, even when I did not know it myself. To my brother and aunt for always wanting the best for me. The second part is to thank my thesis supervisor, Professor Susan Stringer- O Keeffe who has guided me through my whole process at university with her wisdom and patience. The third part is dedicated to my friends who have made these years more special and endurable with their humour and support. They have accepted me as I am and even when I did not believe in myself, they did. That is something I will never forget. The last part is dedicated to every person, whether adult or child, who forgets about their problems and becomes immersed in the pages of a book. While somebody still believes in the power of reading, there is hope. 2

4 INDEX ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION CHAPTER ONE Culture in the EFL Classroom Literature in the EFL Classroom...8 Young-Adult Literature as a Cultural Dimension 12 Situation in Chile...14 CHAPTER TWO Ethics and Morals in Harry Potter.. 16 Harry Potter and the Hero s Journey.16 Moral Values and Ethical Dilemmas in the Harry Potter Books.20 Mortality and Resilience...21 Love and Friendship..22 Good and Evil..24 CHAPTER THREE Teaching Unit with a Focus on Harry Potter. 26 Reports 5 th year...27 Reports 8 th year Conclusions.38 CONCLUSION SOURCES. 41 APPENDIX

5 ABSTRACT This minor thesis is focused on the role of culture and literature in the teaching of English as a foreign language. It shows how the Harry Potter series can be used to incorporate not only British culture but also values into language teaching. The objective of this thesis is to demonstrate the adaptability of these books to any content required by the Chilean national curriculum or by a particular school, and also to prove that the moral dilemmas faced by Harry Potter and his friends can help teachers and students to include ethical dimensions in classroom discussion. The experience with the teaching unit showed that the goal was reached, with the students successfully using English in the treatment of topics such as tolerance, racism and friendship and demonstrating unusual enthusiasm in the process. RESUMEN Esta tesis para optar al grado de licenciado(a) en educación está enfocada en el rol de la cultura y la literatura en la enseñanza del Inglés como lengua extranjera. Demuestra como la serie de libros de Harry Potter puede ser utilizada para incorporar no tan sólo cultura Británica, sino que también valores en la enseñanza del idioma. El objetivo de esta tesis es demostrar la adaptabilidad de estos libros en relación con cualquier contenido requerido por el curriculum nacional Chileno o que requiera cualquier establecimiento, y también probar que los dilemas éticos y morales que enfrenta Harry Potter y sus amigos puede ayudar a profesores y estudiantes a incluir temáticas éticas y morales dentro de las conversaciones en el aula. La experiencia con la unidad pedagógica diseñada demuestra que el objetivo fue alcanzado, con los estudiantes utilizando el idioma Inglés de manera exitosa en la discusión de temas tales como tolerancia, racismo y amistad, demostrando un entusiasmo inusual durante el proceso. 4

6 INTRODUCTION Culture, and in particular literature, are subjects that are not frequently introduced into Chilean classrooms, although they are supposed to be part of the national curriculum. Even if they are used, they are associated with dull activities that do not motivate the students. I believe that culture, especially literature, can be used to educate students with regard to their knowledge of the world, in addition to improving reading, one of the most fundamental activities in the learning of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), because it develops both productive and receptive skills, improving students proficiency. The Harry Potter series was chosen for this minor thesis because of its wide popularity among both native and non-native speakers. At first it was classified as a children s book, but as it progressed, the series incorporated more complex subjects because, like Harry and his friends, the readers were growing up at the same time. The popularity of the books has boosted the reputation of the incipient sub-genre now known as Young-Adult (Y-A) literature, targeted at children and teenagers between ten and twenty years old. The continuing story is one that children, teenagers and adults can enjoy and identify with, connecting generations and allowing them to interact with the universal values and ethics depicted. The first chapter of this thesis presents the arguments of experts who promote the importance of teaching culture and literature as a fundamental part of the teaching-learning of any foreign language. This chapter also describes the development of Young-Adult literature, first as a branch of children s literature and after the success of the Harry Potter series, as its own cultural dimension. Finally, the place of culture in English teaching in Chile is briefly explained. The second chapter analyses the most important ethical aspects of the Harry Potter books. The final chapter presents the teaching unit designed for 5 th and 8 th year classes at a subsidised Catholic elementary school in Hualpen, Region del Bío- Bío, Chile. Each year was taught four classes related to Harry Potter, each lesson focusing on one skill: reading comprehension, oral expression, listening comprehension and written expression. The units were created in a way that they 5

7 did not interfere with the contents required by the school, reinforcing vocabulary and abilities that seemed weak in the students. 6

8 CHAPTER ONE CULTURE IN THE EFL CLASSROOM Learning a foreign language nowadays is a necessity and not a luxury as it used to be a few decades ago, which has increased the demand for teachers of foreign languages, especially English. At first it was thought that language and culture were separate sets of knowledge, the former being teachable in a classroom, but the latter only being learned through insertion in the target culture. This belief has changed, and the teaching of a foreign language no longer consists of sentences translated from one language to another, but requires students to learn cultural competence, which refers to the knowledge of the conventions, customs, beliefs, and systems of meaning of another country that allows students to communicate efficiently within a globalised world (Thanasoulas, 2001). Experts now affirm that learning a language is not just a question of studying structures in isolation, but of acquiring a whole new culture as well. We cannot separate language from culture, because language does not exist apart from culture, that is, from the socially inherited assemblage of practices and beliefs that determines the texture of our lives (Sapir 1970, p. 207). Buttjes (1990) makes the same assertion, claiming that it is accurate to say that language and culture are from the start inseparably connected (p. 55, cited in Lessard-Clouston, 1997). As a result, culture is integrated into language learning, but not [as] an expendable fifth skill, tacked on to the teaching of speaking, listening, reading, and writing. It is always in the background, right from day one. (Kramsch 1993) Thus this must be the main objective of every foreign language teacher: to be able to immerse each student in a culture, so that he or she does not have to contemplate it as an outsider, but rather as an added member of this group. There are many ways to introduce culture; what is important is that the cultural context should always be present in the EFL classroom. 7

9 Literature in the EFL Classroom In the past, learning a foreign language was the means to have access to literature, which is one of the richest and most accessible forms of culture for a student unable to travel to a country that speaks the target language. It is through reading that students learned of the civilization associated with the target language (Flewelling 1993, p. 339, cited in Lessard-Clouston, 1997), hence the popularity of writers such as William Shakespeare, Mary Shelley, Oscar Wilde and Jane Austen among others, who appeal to readers from all backgrounds, gender and levels of proficiency. Literature has been used in the past as a tool for instruction, with stories that amused young readers and at the same time served as cautionary tales, providing reinforcement of the moral values taught at school. In the 17 th century, children s books spread ideas about social life and good behaviour; in the 18 th century scientific ideas were the main focus of these stories, and in the Victorian Era in the United Kingdom, children s stories encouraged moral values such as temperance and charity for poor children (Reynolds 2011, p. 35). In the 19 th century, children s literature was targeted either at boys or girls with specific settings and subjects addressed in each type of book. Boys enjoyed adventure stories while girls had to read about domestic situations. One example of the former is Treasure Island (1881) by Robert Louis Stevenson. On the other hand, stories for girls were much more popular in the United States, with engaging protagonists such as Jo March in Louisa May Alcott s Little Women (1868) and Anne in Lucy Maud Montgomery s Anne of Green Gables (1908). These works helped to pave the way for what Reynolds (2011) calls the Century of the Child, which celebrated imagination and creativity and reached its apotheosis with J. M Barrie s Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Couldn t Grow Up (1904), not especially targeted at boys or girls, but really for any child or adult, as its themes address both childhood and adulthood. The above-mentioned books are still used today as a way to introduce children to stories that will raise issues relevant to them, and at the same time they help them to identify and comprehend varieties of English and to see how the language has changed through time. Without literature in the FL classroom, 8

10 students acquire linguistic accuracy, but they still have difficulties in comprehending the nuances, creativity and versatility which characterise even standard and transactional forms of English (Savvidou, 2004). As teachers of English, our main objective is to immerse our students in language in all its forms, both spoken and written, with all possible variety of discourse types, the lastmentioned being best represented by Kinneavy s Communication Triangle (1983). Source: Adapted from Kinneavy: The Basic Aims of Discourse This classification of discourse types includes the expressive, focused on personal expression (letters, diaries, etc.); persuasive discourse, relating to both the reader and the message (advertising, instructions, etc.); and the aesthetic, which refers to form and language (poetry, novels, drama, etc.) This classification helps us to introduce our students to various examples of authentic material to broaden their knowledge, not only of the language, but also of the culture embedded within the material. Literature can bring a number of benefits to students given that it is a source of genuine authentic texts intended for native speakers, providing the reader with real examples of different styles, text types and subjects that allow them to recognise different social communicative functions (Kern, 2000, cited in Bobkina & Dominguez, 2014). Another benefit is increased motivation in the classroom, which promotes a favourable attitude toward learning (Amtmann Chavez et al., 2011). In addition, literature makes students travel mentally and emotionally to 9

11 foreign places and fantastic worlds without the need to spend time or money. If chosen wisely, literature can bring powerful emotional responses, because students can relate to these stories while they read them, and this helps them improve language learning. However, it is crucial that teachers choose literary texts and associated exercises that motivate students. In other words, suitable materials and methods increase the interest of the learners, making it possible to integrate literature into language teaching successfully. Students also have the opportunity to interact with the text. A text can have multiple interpretations, which can elicit multiple opinions, helping to build a healthy discussion, leading to the exercise of active language skills by means of spoken discussion or written opinion. In this sense, the teacher becomes a facilitator and not an owner of knowledge. Literature can propitiate a wide number of activities, adaptable to any content in order to develop and improve reading, listening comprehension, and written and oral expression, all in one lesson if desired. According to Maley (1989) there are some special virtues related to learning English through literature, the most important ones being: i) Universality, ii) Non- Triviality, iii) Personal relevance, iv) Variety, v) Interest, vi) Economy and suggestive power, and vii) Ambiguity. i) Universality: There is no language without oral or written literature. This includes global topics such as love, death, separation, jealousy and pride, shared by all cultures. ii) iii) ii) Non-Triviality: Most of the traditional forms of language input introduce language in artificial contexts that are often rejected by students. Literature, meanwhile, does not trivialize, but offers the reader genuine, authentic input. Personal relevance: Literary texts commonly deal with events, ideas, feelings and emotions that conform to a real or imaginative part of the readers experience. This makes it much easier for them to relate their reading experience to previous background knowledge, thus facilitating the learning process. 10

12 iv) Variety: Literary texts tend to cover a wide variety of topics and to include all the conceivable varieties of language. v) Interest: Since the themes treated in literary works are part of the global human experience, they are intrinsically interesting for readers. vi) vii) Imaginative power: One of the greatest strengths of literature consists in its imaginative, suggestive power, evoking ideas and experiences that go beyond the written text. This makes literature an ideal tool for generating topics for class debates. Ambiguity: Literature is open to individual interpretation and once again can be used to generate discussion. Taking all of this into account, whether the classrooms are homogeneous or not, the teacher must start with the student s own cultural background and the cultures that students have direct contact with and then expand from that point until both cultures have been covered (Chlopek, 2008). Level of proficiency and age are variables we also need to have in mind. One source of difficulty when including literature in the curriculum is that it is sometimes highly demanding, so that the teacher should carry out extensive research to create a collection of stories that are useful for teaching and are appealing to the students. According to Van (2009) the study of literature is a must as far as it exposes students to meaningful contexts rich in descriptive language and interesting characters. Another potential problem is the lack of necessary background knowledge and the shortage of well-designed materials, which leads to a great investment of teacher s time to develop materials according to the contents needed. As previously mentioned, the selection of appropriate texts is essential. The most common problem is language itself, more specifically, syntax and vocabulary. Literary vocabulary and grammatical structures are often considered too complicated, making reading a highly demanding activity (Bobkina & Dominguez, 2014) While some texts might be highly appealing to students, especially between ages 13-18, the grammatical structures, level of vocabulary and topics addressed could become a disadvantage and an obstacle. Length is another issue that can cause conflict 11

13 between teachers and students because sometimes students do not have the linguistic, literary and cultural competence to tackle the text (Lima 2005, p. 186) From the teacher s perspective, both advantages and disadvantages must be taken into account, as well as the context and needs of each class, in order to integrate literature into lessons. Young-Adult Literature as a Cultural Dimension In the past, children s literature was a good choice for classroom use due to its wide scope, but there was very little literature targeted at teenagers. Childhood was being prolonged, thus teen culture was born. Adolescents were a neglected readership, caught between children s stories and adult literature without authors who presented the difficult period they were experiencing. It was not until 1942 when Maureen Daly published what is considered the first book written exclusively for teenagers, called Seventeenth Summer, that adolescents started having literature exclusively for them, which in many cases could help them cope with the tensions that are characteristic of this period of their lives. The term Young-Adult literature was coined by the Young Adult Library Services Association in the USA during the 1960s to describe that written for the age range. After Seventeenth Summer was published, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger (1951) and S.E Hinton s The Outsiders (1967) followed, focusing on the problems that teenagers confront in their struggle to become more independent from their parents as well as on protagonists from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities and, later, with different sexual orientations. To portray these issues, authors started to use different genres, such as fantasy, tragedy, comedy and science fiction. One example is Anne Fine s Bill s New Frock (1989), addressing gender inequality; and another is Roald Dahl s Matilda (1988) presenting the cruel teacher, Miss Trunchbull, together with neglectful and ignorant parents. As a consequence, young-adult literature became more complex, including sex, swearing and violence with endings that were no longer happy ever after (Reynolds 2011, p. 21) Stylistically, writing for children and writing for teenagers used to convey a change only in level of vocabulary and maturity of topics, but since young-adult literature 12

14 appeared, authors have changed tone of voice, lexis, register and the amount of detail contained in descriptions and explanations (Reynolds 2011, p. 25). Young readers expect to understand themselves better through the texts, trying to identify with the experiences described, even if the setting is imaginary or belongs to another world. They need to see the changes they are going through reflected in these stories. An accurate depiction of this phenomenon can be seen in Philip Pullman s His Dark Materials series (1995) in which most characters have animals called daemons that externalise aspects of their inner selves. While children s daemons are constantly changing, adult s daemons are permanently fixed. These stories allow readers to have an insight into a more adult world. The same happens with the Harry Potter series (1997), which starts with the main characters leaving childhood at eleven years old and finishes with the same characters preparing to enter adulthood at seventeen years old, thus accompanying expected readers through puberty and adolescence. Length and vocabulary are other issues that at some point may be problematic. Some children s stories include vocabulary regarded as being too complex for the targeted age group; for example, Beatrix Potter s Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902) in which the sparrows implore Peter to exert himself after he is caught in Mr McGregor s net. Even today this vocabulary may seem too advanced for children, but the topics are probably childish for pubescent readers. While books and stories targeted at teenagers have become more complex, not many books have more than one hundred pages. However, the popularity of J.K Rowling s Harry Potter series has proved that a compelling story can engage readers with books that range from 223 pages in the first book and reach nearly 900 in the final volume. Unlike in the past, teenage readers are now considered independent enough to read by themselves without an adult there to explain words or subjects. Even more than 80 years ago, Hazard realised that modern literature read by children could be a force for the transformation of their lives. In his survey of children s literature in Europe and America: Les livres, les enfants et les hommes (1932; translated as Books, Children and Men in 1944), he claims that children s books represented a rejuvenating force in the hopes that children would learn about each other through reading each other s books, building international 13

15 understanding and bring an end to conflicts (Reynolds 2011, p.41). Even more so in the 21 st century, teenagers are empowered in that they can choose what they want to read and it is generally considered that adults should no longer decide for them. This thought is reinforced by many organisations that have tried to perpetuate Hazard s ideas; for example, the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) (1953) and the International Youth Library in Munich (Internationale Jugendbibliothek 1983). In addition, the Children s Peace Literature Award was created in Such organisations and prizes foster both children s and young-adult literature around the world. Despite the effort to promote literature as a fundamental part of the curriculum, teenagers are not particularly keen on reading, preferring other forms of entertainment such as radio and television, and recently internet. This means that teachers have to find new ways to attract students to literature so that it can be beneficial for learning purposes. The appearance of the first Harry Potter book in 1997 changed the view that adults had about young-adult literature. Children and teenagers devoured each book and waited for the next one to be published. 11 million copies of the last book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, were sold on its first day of release in the United States and United Kingdom, an unprecedented record for a book targeted at children and teenagers. Situation in Chile In Chile, English is taught as a foreign language because outside the classroom students have little or no exposure to it. According to the Ministry of Education s teaching guidelines, the purpose of studying English is to enable students to develop their abilities in order to communicate in situations similar to real life and have access to knowledge that promotes better development in their future academic and working life. In terms of cultural learning, students should be able to recognise the importance and value of the English language as a means to appreciate literary and cultural expressions of the English language. Students will be able to consider possible cultural differences and to have an empathic and respectful attitude toward their classmates. Although the national curriculum highlights the importance of English as cultural expression, the truth is that this cultural content does not always exist in the 14

16 classroom. Teachers barely have the time to teach the core contents required. Yet teachers need to make the time to introduce literature into their teaching by adapting suitable texts relating both to the contents set by the Ministry of Education as well as to cultural aspects essential for every learner of a foreign language. 15

17 CHAPTER TWO ETHICS AND MORALS IN THE HARRY POTTER SERIES These days it seems that one of the toughest challenges for an FL teacher, particularly in Chile, is bringing students closer to literature. Pre-adolescents and teenagers, with some exceptions, are not interested in reading. Their world revolves around social media and their friends, so that teachers may lose hope about introducing books into their lessons. What they do not take into account is that a good book can easily serve as a bridge that links students with their peers, their teachers and even their parents. Literature, because of its powerful impact, may even be used to raise subjects such as racism, responsibility, duty, angst, rebellion, personal maturation and death. Harry Potter certainly includes a wide range of usable subjects, not only in terms of reading comprehension and vocabulary, but also as a tool to discuss ethics and morality. The series of seven books describe the journey of a group of heroes, namely Harry and his friends. Although it deals with teenagers in a fantasy world, their struggles and pains of growing up are perfectly recognisable to any adolescent. Harry Potter and the Hero s Journey The concept of Hero s Journey was introduced by Joseph Campbell in The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949), which describes a basic pattern present in many literary works. This pattern involves a hero who goes on an adventure and, after experiencing a crisis, emerges victorious in order to come back home transformed. 16

18 Source: TEDx Ancient Story Of The Hero's Journey; Everyone Is A Hero, This Is Your Call To Adventure Taking into account the whole series, Harry s journey starts in the first book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer s Stone, in which Harry lives an apparently ordinary life in England. An orphan left with his uncles and cousin, unloved, neglected and even abused, he grows up believing that he is not special and therefore not worthy of affection or attention. On his eleventh birthday he receives the call to adventure, being told he is a wizard and has a place in a magic world: Hogwarts, the school of witchcraft and wizardry. Harry, believing himself to be ordinary, refuses the call to adventure saying I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard." (Rowling 1997, p.45) According to Campbell, the refusal can be explained because the hero has a fear of the unknown and does not believe in himself. However, he is convinced by his guardians and mentors, Albus Dumbledore, Rubeus Hagrid and Minerva McGonagall, who will prepare 17

19 him for the adventure and give him wise advice in moments of adversity. The existence of mentors in the Harry Potter books can also be related to Campbell s heroic journey, for which mentors are an essential element. After meeting his first mentor, the hero will cross the threshold (Campbell s term), which in this series is represented by Platform 9 ¾ at King s Cross station in London. The fact that it is placed between platforms 9 and 10 indicates that this magical world is in the middle of our world. Harry leaves his ordinary world and begins his journey, both figurative and literal, travelling to Hogwarts by train. There he meets his friends and allies Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, who will help him to discover his identity and his fundamental role in this new world, but he will also meet his enemies, Draco Malfoy and his group of intolerant racist friends, who will taunt Harry and his allies throughout the story. In Campbellian terms, they represent the obstacles that the hero must face on his journey. Harry is constantly tempted and challenged, at first with small problems that test his courage and moral principles, such as whether or not to leave Hermione at the mercy of a troll, even if helping her means that he is risking his own life. Each book increases the level of complexity of the challenges, which reach their peak at the end of every book, coinciding with the end of the school year. In the first of the series, Harry Potter and The Sorcerer s Stone, Harry is promised eternal glory and infinite power, but he proves his moral strength by rejecting this offer and choosing to support his friends instead. Yet he does not expect any reward, because he does not recognise any sacrifice. Harry does not seek power; because of his previous loneliness, he considers his friends to be his most precious reward, establishing in this way the moral ground that will continue throughout the series. In Campbell s analysis, loneliness is the burden of the hero, but in Harry s case he partly, but not completely, avoids this fate through his two very close friends. At the beginning, Hermione and Ron are deeply flawed characters, but by accompanying Harry on his journey, they are transformed too. Hermione is the intellectual of the trio. She is an excessively rational girl who respects rules above everything, as revealed in one famous line in the first book after Harry and Ron break a rule: I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been 18

20 killed, or worse, expelled (Rowling 1997, p.129). She is also described as bossy instead of feminine or beautiful, which goes against the convention that heroines should be feminine, exceptionally beautiful and ruled by their heart, characteristics also mentioned by Campbell. Rowling s depiction of Hermione encourages girls who rebel against conventional gender rules in literature and in life. Ron is one of the youngest sons of a big family, in which there is little money but abundant love and affection. He is the heart of the trio and deeply loyal, but at the same time he craves the attention given to Harry from the beginning. In the fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry is selected to participate in the Triwizard Tournament, a dangerous contest that gives eternal glory to the winner. Campbell talks about this glory, also calling it the reward or the prize. Although Harry is selected for this role without his consent, Ron cannot help feeling jealous. Campbell points out that the hero s companions face their own challenges, and this is certainly true in the Harry Potter books. Later in the same book, however, Ron offers his life in order to help Harry with the final challenge. Ron is definitely not the heroic type, being often shown as clumsy, but he is brave and overcomes his weaker side. His final test comes in the last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, in which he abandons his friends because he feels that he is not as brave as Harry or as clever as Hermione. Yet he comes back, because his conscience tells him that his friends need him for moral support, and establishes his worth by discovering a sword, a traditional symbol of courage, that will lead to Voldemort s final demise. Boys can thus identify with Ron, in part because he defies the norms established for male heroes. Nor is he considered attractive or successful with the opposite sex, another norm, until the end of the series when he conquers Hermione s heart. This goes against the convention, mentioned by Campbell that the hero and the heroine end up together. Other characters in the novels, such as Neville Longbottom, are insecure and fear disappointing their families, which can also give support to young readers who might be in a similar situation. Neville is able to fight his friends when he believes that they are not conducting themselves properly, which can help readers not to be afraid of losing their friends by disagreeing with them. 19

21 Before the climax of the story, in the Campbellian schema, the hero approaches the inmost cave where the he must find the object of the quest. For Harry this occurs at the beginning of the seventh and last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, when he must find the horrocruxes that contain fragments of Voldemort s soul, in order to make him mortal and kill him. At first, he wants to go through this quest alone, but his friends refuse to allow him to do so, knowing that the quest might be long and deadly. Their friendship is so strong that they are willing to give their life for this cause. In this quest, the trio confront their fears in order to be prepared for, in Joseph Campbell s terms the abyss, enduring the supreme ordeal. In this stage, the hero reaches bottom and faces the possibility of death. This is the most critical time of the story, in which the hero dies and comes back to life, the most magical moment in the hero myth. The reader identifies with the hero and experiences the abyss with him. For Harry, his abyss is the final battle, in which he accepts his fate and dies by his own will, coming back to life again in order to defeat the villainous Voldemort, thus ending his heroic journey. In the final stage of his journey, also called by Campbell the return, the hero reconciles his past and his present to prepare his journey home. Thus, by the end of the last book, Harry and his friends come back to their normal lives, with only Hermione returning to Hogwarts to finish her education, transformed and ready to embrace adulthood. The two young men are now ready to assume the responsibility of forming their own families and rebuilding their world. Their journey has ended. Moral Values and Ethical Dilemmas in the Harry Potter Books As shown, Harry Potter is filled with archetypes and conventions that are sometimes reinforced and sometimes challenged. The appeal of the story to the readership resides in the fact that these ethical dilemmas help them and therefore students in the classroom situation, to confront their own predicaments. Archetypes and their function are closely related to the theories of the psychologist Carl Jung, who argues that every person is equipped with a collective unconscious, or a set of images that consist of universal fictional 20

22 characters. According to Berndt & Steveker (2011) our attraction to specific types of stories and characters originates in their appeal to our collective unconscious. In the following pages, certain archetypes presented in the series are explored together with the moral values and ethical dilemmas that appeal to students, so that the latter begin to question their own set of moral values. This enables the teacher to raise topics such as racism, intolerance, death and loyalty in the classroom. Mortality and Resilience Death is one of the great themes of the series. Harry s parents died when he was still a baby, having been killed by Voldemort, an evil, powerful wizard. His parents were soldiers in a war that almost destroyed the magical world and now the threat of war rises again. Being an orphan is a situation that any child can experience and reading how Harry copes with his pain and longs for his parents while he is growing up can be a cathartic experience. The fact that his parents died in a war that was not entirely over is another experience that many children and teenagers in the world are familiar with. Voldemort is also an orphan, whose desire for power and fear of death leads him to become a cruel wizard. His fear of death is so great that he fragments his soul into seven parts in order not to die. In the first book, he needs the sorcerer s stone, an object that gives its owner eternal life. Harry obtains it because he has a pure heart, whereas Voldemort does not, so that the stone hurts him when he touches it. In one sense we could say that Harry and Voldemort are two sides of the same coin. One might expect that, in a story targeted at children and teenagers, death would be less recurrent, but as the series progresses Harry loses his long-lost godfather, many of his friends, and almost every important parental figure in his life. Even his innocence dies symbolically, when his owl is killed by one of Voldemort s followers, another stage in the hero s journey, according to Campbell. In the fourth book, one of his close friends is killed, traumatising him for a long time, giving him nightmares and causing him to blame himself. This is 21

23 a situation that could happen in any school, and reading how Harry learns to live with the feelings that this death produces could help students to recover from such circumstance and understand that pain can be overcome. At the end of the last book, Harry has to die in order to defeat Voldemort. He accepts his fate and walks quietly to his final destination. Afterwards he is received by Dumbledore in a state of purgatory, where he is told that he has the option of coming back to fight Voldemort, or of permanently dying, which Harry seriously considered because he was not afraid to die. Nevertheless, he chooses to come back and of course kills Voldemort. A special object in the series is the Mirror of Erised ( desire backwards), which reflects what the heart [of the person in front of it] desires the most. Harry sees his parents touching him and telling him how loved he is, whereas Ron sees himself holding the house cup, being recognised and admired. At some point, Dumbledore also sees his dead sister. This device allows readers to ask themselves what they would see if they were in front of the mirror and what they think about death and the after-life. Thus the role of death in the Harry Potter saga can help students to express their fears and describe their experiences, identifying with the characters and thereby perhaps coping better with the feelings that death produces. Love and Friendship Love is a central theme throughout the series, being described as one of the strongest kinds of magic. Many types of love are represented in the story, including friendship and romantic love, but also toxic relationships represented in the association between Voldemort and his lieutenant Bellatrix Lestrange. Even when Voldemort expresses his cruel disregard for her, she remains at his side. Love is Voldemort s ultimate weakness, given that he does not understand or possess the power to love. Love is Harry s strength, given that his mother s love is what protected and saved him at the beginning and at the end of the series. In addition, love and loyalty to your friends is another strongly emphasised theme, 22

24 with the main trio complementing each other in the whole series. Voldemort s supporters are constantly compared to Harry s friends, given that what links Voldemort and company is the common feeling of superiority and dominance over the world without magic, in contrast to Harry s friends who bond through trust and acceptance. An example of acceptance and tolerance is the moment when some students bully Hermione because she does not belong to a magic family, referring to her looks and her dirty blood. Hermione s friends stand by her and defend her, even when her blood status is no longer simply the object of jokes at school, but used as a reason to kill her. Ron being a pure blood wizard tells Voldemort s supporters that she is his cousin, making her learn by heart his whole ancestry to prove it. Ron is also an object of ridicule because, although he comes from an ancient and pure family of wizards, he is poor and uses second-hand robes and school supplies. This situation is addressed in the first chapters of the first book, when the intolerant and cruel Draco Malfoy learns about Harry s fame and invites him to be his friend, saying "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there." (Rowling 1997, p. 86). However, Harry quickly rejects him, staying by Ron s side. As in any friendship, they go through situations that test their commitment to each other, but by overcoming the obstacles, they become stronger and more united than before, making their relationship more sincere and emphatic. For example, in the fifth book Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry is accused of lying about Voldemort s return and many of his classmates do not believe him. He is rejected and bullied by his peers, with the exception of Ron and Hermione. After discovering that Harry is not lying, most of his closest classmates admit their mistake and ask for forgiveness, which is a valuable lesson on mutual understanding and second chances. In the final battle, Harry tells Voldemort that he pities him because he never knew love, compassion and true friendship, as he only had supporters that followed him out of fear, not love. By reading about an imperfect, and thus more real friendship, students are learning about social behaviour and trust, which will help them in their future life. 23

25 Good and Evil One characteristic of children s stories is that the heroes and villains are identifiable from the beginning. According to the conventions, the hero is pure and benevolent, whereas the villain has no redeeming qualities at all, with no background that explains the reasons behind his or her behaviour. This stark contrast is blurred in Young-Adult literature, with villains that not only represent a threat to the main hero, but are also a threat to humankind, so that the old boundaries between good and evil are no longer completely clear. Glanzer (2008) says: Rowling defends the existence of an objective moral universe. In fact, it is the villains that tend to speak in Nietzschean terms. The main villain deconstructs himself thus: A foolish young man I was then, full of ridiculous ideas about good and evil. There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to see it. Of course talking about good and evil can be explosive in real life, but should a teacher help students to decide if there are even such battles? Isn t it better to avoid such topics altogether? But dodging the issue would prove tragic for the consideration of ethics in public schools. After all ethics is about duty and obligation in human conduct and of reasoning of choice about them. I am in absolute agreement with Glanzer. Harry s journey throughout the series is about defeating evil, represented in the person of Voldemort, a former Hogwarts student whose ambition and cruelty led the wizarding world into a civil war. His past is explained in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and while, his actions are not justified, the reader is invited to understand the context that took the orphan Tom Riddle and transformed him into Lord Voldemort, the most feared wizard in the world. He embodies the dangers of intolerance and totalitarianism, advocating the superiority of wizards over ordinary humans. When Voldemort s aims are explained to the students, obvious historical figures and periods of history can be debated, raising subjects such as tolerance and even areas we might think they do not care about, such as politics. It should be emphasised once again that Harry is not perfect either. In the last three books he is not afraid to harm people because he needs to focus on the greater scheme of things and particularly on winning the war. At one point, Harry 24

26 asks Dumbledore if he is becoming like Voldemort and Dumbledore replies that our choices show who we really are, leaving Harry to draw his own conclusions. The ethics of the characters keep them on the right path even when it would be easier to surrender to evil. Harry finally fulfils his destiny because he remains optimistic and is able to do what is right instead of doing what is easy. All the characters complexities help students to understand that people are more difficult to understand than they thought as children. Whited (2002) says that the sense of ambiguity, of no clear answers grows with each book, as Harry grows and sees more and farther. (p.24) To explain his claim, Whited uses the example of Snape: Professor Snape is a thoroughly unpleasant, mean-spirited man driven by jealousy of Harry and what he represents, and yet he is willing to protect him when he must (p.24) Thus the Harry Potter series is about the duality of good and evil and resilience. A magical world is contrasted with a world without magic. The forces of evil not only threaten the magical world, but also our world. Voldemort has the need to dominate the human race, supporting his claim by saying that the strongest have to rule over the weak. The statement Magic is Might is the motto of the Ministry of Magic (controlled by Voldemort), the entrance of which is decorated with a black statue depicting two wizards seated on tiny human beings. Nevertheless this conquest of good by evil is not what happens in the Harry Potter series. In the last book, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows evil is defeated and, although many lives are lost, the resilience of the good characters will help to rebuild the world in the hope that the lesson has been learnt and that evil will not return. 25

27 CHAPTER THREE TEACHING UNIT WITH A FOCUS ON HARRY POTTER Teaching Unit This chapter focuses on the units I implemented during my teaching practice at High Scope School, a Catholic elementary, semi-private school in Hualpén. I chose to work with one 5 th year class and one 8 th year class, because I wanted to compare their behaviour, attitude and achievements with regard to the material designed for them. English is a compulsory subject from 5 th year onward, so that this was a good opportunity to work with these two years together. The material designed was almost the same, except for the level of English required and used. As it was a Catholic school, I decided to orient my units towards ethics, given that the Harry Potter books deal with situations in which personal values and morals are put to a test. I also assumed these students would be very familiar with either the books or at least the films and could relate to some of the situations presented in the books, given their age range. I presented my idea to my supervising teacher, who was delighted by it and gave me the freedom to teach my lessons after the units in the national curriculum had been taught, that is, towards the end of the year. Thus, I decided to use four of the seven books of the series, two with each year. I picked the simplest books, which also meant that the characters were the same age as the students, in order to appeal to students in a more personal way. I chose Book One, Harry Potter and The Sorcerer s Stone, and Book Three, Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban, to work with the 5 th year and Four, Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, and Seven, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, to work with the 8 th year. The units were focused on the four skills: oral production, reading comprehension, written expression and listening comprehension. The two main tools were the printed books, together with audio books for the activities related to listening comprehension. My supervising teacher asked me to relate my whole unit to topics in the non-ministry textbooks, Beep! 5 and English in Motion 2, used by the school. She advised me to assess the units with points to be added to the 26

28 marks for the final test or practical work of each year, in order to reinforce the importance of the unit. Reports 5 th year Unit A Great Day Out As this lesson was at 8 am on Monday morning, the students were fresh and apparently ready to learn. The unit in Beep! 5 is called A Great Day Out and deals with hobbies and sports. Hence I decided to use quidditch and sportsmanship as main themes for the lesson. I started with reading comprehension, because passive skills are easier than productive skills. The moment I told them we were going to be working with Harry Potter they began to comment on the films and their favourite episodes. I explained to the students that we were going to organise a house cup competition, which aroused their enthusiasm. They wanted to pick their house, but I told them that they would be assigned to a house according to the seating arrangement in the classroom. They 27

29 became very enthusiastic about choosing prefects, because some of the students already knew the system and how it worked in the films. Some students claimed not to know about Harry Potter or to have never watched the films, because they thought they were for younger children. Two students claimed to be great fans of the series and one of them had even read most of the books in Spanish. Eventually the latter answered all the questions, which led to complaints from other students who were eager to participate. In preparation for the reading activity, I presented relevant vocabulary and asked students what the words meant. Then I distributed the reading excerpt from The Sorcerer s Stone. At first it took more time than estimated to deliver the instructions in English because they are not used to using English in the classroom, but by the end of the class, they understood almost everything. They did not want to read English aloud, so I decided to read a little first, then they read in chorus, and finally individually. While they were reading I used body language to help them understand. At this point, students became more concerned about their points and more competitive, asking to see the points poster to know their situation. They wanted to check if they had lost points and when this happened, they told their classmate to behave better because they did not want to lose any more. Subsequently, the students worked individually, writing the answers to comprehension questions projected onto the board. Only two students did not participate in the activity, even though they knew it was going to be assessed later. These students have behavioural problems and sometimes do not work in other subjects either. I was warned about this situation and one of these students is always ignored when she is not working because otherwise she distracts the rest of the class. I was amazed at the behaviour of another troublesome student, who did every activity as requested, which is not usual. Some other students did not want to work and distracted their classmates at the beginning of the lesson, but by the time I presented the first activity, they were more motivated and even wanted to go to the library to borrow some dictionaries, which usually takes them more time than necessary, but this time they returned quickly. 28

30 To answer the questions, students needed more time than initially planned, because this was a new activity for them. I explained the questions, first in English and then in Spanish. I allowed them to answer the question Why do you think Harry wished he had 8 more eyes? in Spanish because it was an open-ended question and they do not possess the abilities to write their thoughts in English yet. The rest of the questions had to be answered in English and most of them did it in very basic English. By the end of the lesson, they were very excited and involved. When I asked them what they thought of the activity I received positive feedback. However, I believe that for the level of English they possess, a 45 minute lesson is too short, because they tend to waste time and I had to expend a great amount of energy to keep them focused. The second lesson in the 5 th year was also on a Monday at 8 am and was focused on oral expression. The objective was to plan a day out for the class, using vocabulary from the unit in the textbook. Students were eager to participate, but found it hard to get down to work. Once again, the instructions in English gave them problems and although I used body language I still had to resort to Spanish 29

31 for some key words. They agreed to keep the same prefects for every class, because the students who wanted to be prefects were always the same and they happened to be the most responsible too. Students remained eager throughout the lesson, but I had to make a change from forcing all students to work in pairs, as a few said they wanted to work alone in order to complete the task quickly and I allowed them to do it, with positive results. I should say that students are seated in a certain way for behavioural reasons, partly related to the children with special needs (ADHD in various degrees, extreme misbehaviour and Asperger syndrome) These arrangements sometimes cause disruptions and arguments, because they either do not like or feel uncomfortable with the classmates near them. Regarding the activities, they watched the video in silence and were glad to comment on it. I was surprised when I asked them to compare the fictional sport quidditch with existing sports they know and they talked about football and rugby. They were amazed to learn that it is now a real sport in Europe. They talked briefly about their hobbies, many related to indoor activities such as playing video games, watching TV and surfing on the internet. I was perturbed to discover that they mostly spend their spare time on the internet. It caught my attention that in mixed pairs it was the girls who had the ideas and were more enthusiastic. In general, the boys were easily distracted and the girls bossily reminded them to focus on the task and they obeyed. Usually when two girls worked together, they finished sooner and wrote more ideas than two boys working together or mixed pairs. The same thing happened when they presented their ideas to the class. Pairs of girls were more anxious to show their work than pairs of boys. In the voting at the end, the most popular ideas were those presented by pairs of girls, with only one mixed pair and no pairs of boys. When I asked which hobbies could help them improve their English, they could not answer, apart from one girl who mentioned reading and listening to music in English. When I asked if they did that, two girls mentioned that their English was not good enough now, but they would like to do it in the future. None of the students said they listened to music in English, although they knew popular 30

32 musicians such as Michael Jackson and Bon Jovi from the 1980s, probably due to their parents influence. This activity was difficult to start because the preceding class was art, so that the classroom was in a mess. Also, as this was the last lesson of the day the students were desperate to go home. The audio recording consisted of a brief excerpt from the book The Prisoner of Azkaban narrated by Stephen Fry. They listened three times, the first while reading the vocabulary on the board, the second listening without the vocabulary and the third with the transcription of the recording on the board. Students had to make notes of their perception of rhythm and pronunciation. Unfortunately, they are not used to listening exercises, hence most of them were demotivated and distracted, giving up on the task. However, some students completed the activity with ease but I still had to chop up the recording into fragments, reading the transcription and pausing the recording to explain in 31

33 simpler words what had happened. They had no problems with the activity that consisted in ordering the pictures, but I believe this was so because they remembered the films, not because they truly understood the extract. When asked about the pronunciation and rhythm of the reader, they recognised some words but said that the general context was unclear. Nevertheless, they internalised the speech rhythms and intonation and were able to imitate them, but speaking in Spanish, not English, which was very funny. Their comments on the reader were, for example, he sounds very natural, if it were in Spanish I would like to hear a tale told by him and I imagine him as a nice grandad. Despite the difficulties, I feel that the lesson was worthwhile and made them more conscious of the fact that English has a different rhythm and intonation from Spanish. This lesson was difficult to start because the previous teacher had not appeared and the students had been idle. I lost time getting the class under control. After hearing about the activity, students were not enthusiastic and found it difficult to 32

34 write because they are not used to producing texts of any kind in English. In addition, there was very little time. The result was that most students simply copied the example I had written on the board with minimum changes, which disappointed me greatly. Many of the texts lacked coherence and only consisted of four or five lines. I asked them what they thought they could do to improve their performance, but they were not interested in taking any responsibility and just blamed their teachers. Before finishing, I asked what they thought of the activities in the whole unit and they said they had been fun and they had enjoyed most of them. They said they wanted more of these kinds of lessons in the future. When I explained that this unit was going to be included in the final test, they did not believe that it had had any real content. To me this was an ambivalent sign; on the one hand it was good that they had not realised that they were learning through these activities, but on the other hand I felt guilty and a little anxious, because they felt they were not ready to face a test. 33

35 8 th year Unit A Magical World My lessons with the 8 th year were based on the fact that I was required to teach some grammatical aspects, which I included in my lessons successfully. The students were excited about working with Harry Potter. All of them knew the films and were familiar with the plotlines, even though they had never read the books. They are a very unruly group, so they started to shout out their favourite parts, but they were also worried that they would have to read the books, and were relieved to discover that they would not.they also tried to find out how well I knew the films. They reacted enthusiastically to the house cup contest, but were not familiar with the prefect system. However, they understood perfectly when I explained it to them. Our first lesson was focused on reading comprehension in the hope that they would be able to answer some questions about the one-page text on Christmas in the UK. They thought the text was too long, but they did the activity anyway. 34

36 They are not used to reading in English, which explains why they took a long time and some questions at the end of the activity had to be left unanswered. They were genuinely curious about the fact that in the UK and some other English-speaking countries people open Christmas gifts on Christmas Day and not the night before. They mostly said that they preferred the Chilean way, because they would not want to wait. They also asked about boarding schools and if they existed in Chile. They wanted to know how Harry spent his Christmas before and after going to Hogwarts and when they were told about his unhappy home situation, they felt very sorry and compared it with the Sename system in Chile. The regular-irregular verbs activity was difficult for them, as they have problems writing correct English. They tend to fall into Spanish, both in speaking and writing. Some students tried to talk English, but when they made a mistake they were mocked by their classmates. Another problem is that they are not used to speaking in front of an audience and they do not respect each other s opinions, which can turn a simple discussion into an argument very easily. 35

37 The second lesson was after lunch and this was the lesson that my teacher from university came to assess, which resulted in unusually good behaviour and extremely high participation, yet with discipline and respect, which proved to me that the students were able to behave well in the classroom, if they chose. The introductory video kept their attention and they were excited about participating. I explained the activity only once and most of them understood immediately. They worked quickly and even wanted to perform the spells which were funny and creative, but others relied heavily on what they knew from the films. Most of the spells and potions created were used to solve typical teenager problems. This lesson was not taught because they had extra-curricular activities that week and an English test in the following class that had already been prepared. Unfortunately, it was not possible to teach the class later either. 36

38 Without any previous notification, at the beginning of the class another teacher demanded that the students leave the classroom for another activity. This meant that I lost 15 minutes of class time, with the result that this last lesson was the least satisfactory in my opinion. It was the final class before the last English test of the year and the students were very undisciplined when they returned. They had many questions about the test, which took up 10 minutes. Thus the writing activity was rushed and the final purpose not achieved. Sadly, very few students finished. Some of them were confused about the task and spent time thinking instead of asking. The following week we had some time to discuss the unit. The students said that they had enjoyed the activities and they remembered what had happened in each class which made me feel good. They also said they had never had such interactive classes and they wished they could understand more English, because having classes totally in English seemed fun and cool. Some students 37

39 even wanted to read the books and discuss them in class, which was a great surprise in terms of their interests and general attitude towards English. We also had some time to reward the winning house and, as it ended up in a tie, I gave the two winning houses a small prize. The feedback from the students was positive and left me very hopeful about my future classes. Conclusions After reflecting on my unit, I can see that I was overambitious and had high expectations regarding my classes. Some of my goals were achieved, for example, the discussion questions led to interesting subjects raised by the students in both classes. On the other hand, some goals were not achieved due to the lack of practice of the students and because I was not realistic enough when preparing my lessons. At first I thought that my main problem would be that students would not understand what they had to do; in other words that the instructions were more problematic than the tasks themselves. I therefore put more effort into the delivery of instructions than into the performance of each activity, which was a mistake, and, combined with my high expectations, did not always produce the desired effect. With regard to the 5 th year, I was unaware of their lack of motivation and did not anticipate their frustration when they did not understand something immediately. This situation led to my wasting time in each class trying to motivate them and gain control of the class. Now I can see that I should have simplified some of the activities, especially the active skills. I was surprised by their lack of knowledge of the Harry Potter books, which did not always interest the students, so that some of them remained indifferent to the topics discussed. However, something different happened with the 8 th year. They knew the books, which increased their enthusiasm, so they approached the lessons focused on Harry Potter with a more positive attitude than the one they showed towards the lessons not related to Harry Potter. They became easily involved and enjoyed the house cup competition, because they already knew about it, in contrast to the 5 th year class, who needed more time to understand what it was about. In addition, the 8 th year made much more effort to complete the activities than the 5 th year, with lower levels of frustration and more motivation. Although I was not 38

40 able to teach the listening lesson, I was more satisfied with the 8 th year, because they were eager to discuss certain topics related to the books, despite the fact that they were not within the activities taught. Their comments regarding Harry s situation before going to Hogwarts and the racism depicted in the series were discussed on their own initiative and left me very satisfied with their level of comprehension and argumentation, even when they were lacking the tools such as vocabulary and grammatical knowledge. Many of them were concerned about Harry s solitude and lack of parental love before going to Hogwarts. They expressed their fear of losing one or both of their parents by putting themselves in Harry s place. In both years the least satisfying activity was the written expression, because, for different reasons, students did not achieve the objective, which was to produce a written text ten lines long. The 5 th year managed to write four or five lines by summarising the ten-line model on the board and the 8 th year did not write more than six lines at the most, but at least they did not copy from the board. However, their sentences were very poorly constructed. In sum, I am satisfied with what I learned from my unit, and even though I am aware that it can be improved and that such activities require more preparation than usual, I remain convinced that students can be inspired to read and that fiction can be related successfully to any content we are teaching in our classrooms. 39

41 CONCLUSION This minor thesis has attempted to prove that the Harry Potter books can be used by teachers to include both British culture and ethical dimensions in the Chilean EFL classroom and that the series can be adapted to any content required by the curriculum. As explained in Chapter One, many experts conclude that incorporating literature into FL lessons not only improves the development of the four skills, reading and listening comprehension and oral and written expression, but also has other beneficial effects related to personal development and the acquisition of attitudes that foster tolerance and respect for difference. Teachers can integrate culture in such a way that students become active learners through the discussion of the subjects presented. Chapter Two focuses largely on the ethical issues in the Harry Potter novels, with the underlying idea that by reading and discussing Harry s moral dilemmas students can debate issues such as tolerance, racism, bullying and friendship. The application of my ideas in the teaching unit presented in Chapter Three did indeed show that students are genuinely interested in debating these subjects, asking questions and taking part in the lesson as active participants in the teaching-learning process. My experience in the classroom shows that students are eager to learn English, but the dull activities that seem to have become the norm in the classroom prevent them from being interested in the subject. Students participated more enthusiastically in the lessons focused on Harry Potter than in the lessons that were focused on the book used by the school, demonstrating that innovation is fundamental to attract the attention of our students. Access to the Harry Potter series through its movies, books and audio-books is easy, and given its popularity, students know the basic plots, even if they have not seen the movies. As proved by my teaching practice, many activities can be implemented, making the classes different, thus motivating students and offering them entertaining learning. As an overall conclusion I would say that I am eager to implement this unit again in the future, taking into account my mistakes and improving on them, because I believe that students and teachers can benefit from learning more about British culture while at the same time discussing ethics and morals, so often neglected in modern education. 40

42 SOURCES Printed Sources Maley, A. (1989). Down from the Pedestal: Literature as Resource. In Literature and the Learner: Methodological Approaches. Cambridge. Reynolds, K. (2011). Children's Literature: A Very Short Introduction. United States. Rowling, J. (1997). Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. United Kingdom Rowling, J. (1998). Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. United Kingdom Rowling, J. (1999). Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. United Kingdom Rowling, J. (2000). Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. United Kingdom Rowling, J. (2003). Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. United Kingdom Rowling, J. (2005). Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. United Kingdom Rowling, J. (2007). Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. United Kingdom Online Sources with Author Amtmann Chavez, M. (2011). The use of literature in the EFL classroom through three different perspectives. Exploring poetry as a strong option. Formacion Profesorado. Retrieved from Berndt, K., & Steveker, L. (2011). Heroism in the Harry Potter Series (1st ed.). England. Retrieved from Bobkina, J., & Dominguez, E. (2014) Australia. Retrieved from Campbell, J. (1949) (1st ed.). The Hero with a Thousand Faces Retrieved from 41

43 Chlopek, Z. (2008). The Intercultural Approach to EFL Teaching and Learning (1st ed.). Retrieved from Glanzer, P. (2008). Harry Potter's Provocative Moral World: Is There a Place for Good and Evil in Moral Education? (1st ed.). Retrieved from Kramsh, C. (1993). Context and Culture in Language Teaching (1st ed.). Retrieved from Lessard-Clouston, M. (1997). Towards an Understanding of Culture in L2/FL Education. Retrieved 21 January 2016, from Clouston-Culture Lima, C. (2005). Is the rest... silence? (1st ed.). Retrieved from Sapir, E. (1970). Culture, Language and Personality (1st ed.). California: David Goodman Mandelbaum. Retrieved from source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false Savvidou, C. (2004). An Integrated Approach to Teaching Literature in the EFL Classroom. Retrieved 21 January 2016, from Thanasoulas, D. (2001). The Importance Of Teaching Culture In The Foreign Language Classroom (1st ed.). Retrieved from _Culture_in_the_Foreign_Language_Classroom.html Van, T. (2009). The Relevance of Literary Analysis to Teaching Literature in the EFL Classroom. English Teaching Forum, 47(3), 2. Retrieved from Whited, L. (2002). The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter: Perspectives on a Literary Phenomenon (1st ed.). Missouri. Retrieved from 42

44 dq=moral+values+harry+potter&ots=aeil234dvy&sig=_r5xumhqpojaof_qwy G8U3kYQQE&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=moral%20values%20harry%20potte r&f=false Online Source without Author Deconstructing Rhetoric,. (2009). Kinneavy: The Basic Aims of Discourse. Retrieved 21 January 2016, from 43

45 APPENDIX Materials used in the teaching unit All the materials presented were created by the author of this minor thesis apart from the extracts from the novels and the films. Lesson 1, 5 th year: Reading Comprehension "Welcome," said Hagrid, "to Diagon Alley." Harry wished he had eight more eyes. He turned his head in every direction as they walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, and the people doing their shopping. A plump woman outside an Apothecary was shaking her head as they passed, saying, "Dragon liver, seventeen Sickles an ounce, they're mad!" There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Harry had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon... "Gringotts," said Hagrid. They had reached a snow white building. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, was - Yeah, that's a goblin," said Hagrid quietly as they walked up the white stone steps toward him. The goblin was about a head shorter than Harry. He had a clever face, a pointed beard and, Harry noticed, very long fingers and feet. He bowed as they walked inside. Now they were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them: Enter, stranger, but take heed of what awaits the sin of greed, for those who take, but do not earn, must pay most dearly in their turn. So if you seek beneath our floors a treasure that was never yours, Thief, you have been warned, beware of finding more than treasure there. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer s Stone 1997, p.56 44

46 Activities for this lesson Reading comprehension: 1- Why did Harry wish he had 8 more eyes? 2- What objects are sold in the shops? 3- Can you describe the Alley? 4- Can you describe Gringotts? 5- Can you describe the goblin? True or False: 1- The apothecary is like a theme park 2- Harry was sad to visit Diagon Alley 3- Goblins wore a silver uniform 4- Goblins are taller than Harry 5- Thieves are welcomed in Gringotts Lesson 3, 5 th year: Listening comprehension Activities for this lesson 45

47 Lesson 1, 8 th year: Reading comprehension Harry awoke very suddenly on Christmas Day. He opened his eyes, and saw something with very large, round, green eyes staring back at him in the darkness, so close they were almost nose to nose. It was Dobby. "Dobby is only wanting to wish Harry Potter 'Merry Christmas' and bring him a present, Sir! Harry Potter did say Dobby could come and see him sometimes, sir!" It's okay," said Harry, still breathing rather faster than usual. His yell had awoken Ron, Seamus, Dean, and Neville. Therefore they decided that now they were awake they might as well get down to some present-opening too. "Can Dobby give Harry Potter his present?" he said tentatively. "'Course you can," said Harry. "Er... I've got something for you too." It was a lie; he hadn't bought anything for Dobby at all, but he quickly opened his trunk and pulled out a particularly knobby rolled-up pair of socks. Dobby was utterly delighted. "Socks are Dobby's favourite, favourite clothes, sir! Dobby now handed Harry a small package, which turned out to be - socks. "Dobby is making them himself, sir!" the elf said happily. "He is buying the wool out of his wages, sir!" Harry's other presents were much more satisfactory than Dobby's odd socks - with the obvious exception of the Dursleys', which consisted of a single tissue, an all- time low. Hermione had given Harry a book called Quidditch Teams of Britain and Ireland; Ron, a bag of Dungbombs; Sirius, a handy penknife with attachments to unlock any lock and undo any knot; and Hagrid, a vast box of sweets including all Harrys favorites: Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Chocolate Frogs, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, and Fizzing Whizbees. There was also, of course, Mrs. Weasley's usual package, including a new sweater and a large quantity of homemade mince pies. Harry and Ron met up with Hermione in the common room, and they went down to breakfast together. They spent most of the morning in Gryffindor Tower, where everyone was enjoying their presents, then returned to the Great Hall for a magnificent lunch, which included at least a hundred turkeys and Christmas puddings, and large piles of Cribbage's Wizarding Crackers. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 2000, p

48 Activities for this lesson Underline cognates Circle the verbs. Classify them into regular and irregular verbs 1- When do they open their Christmas presents? 2- Which present would be your favourite? 3- Do they open their presents at night or in the morning? According to the text, can you name these Christmas traditions? 47